Conference Report

Report on the 50th Spring Meeting (2003) ofThe Japan Society of Applied Physics and Related Societies
Tsugunori OKUMURA*����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
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The 50th Spring Meeting (2003) of The Japan Society of Apwilling to stand well after the seating limitations had been surpassed.
plied Physics and Related Societies (JSAP) was held over four days
The field of Quantum Electronics has also demonstrated exceptionalfrom March 27th (Thurs.) to 30th (Sun.), 2003, at the Yokohama
growth. Particularly in the session on “Photonic Nano-Structures andCampus of Kanagawa University (Yokohama City). Despite the conRelating Phenomena,” which has been offered since the Spring Meettinuing economic slump, this year’s meeting was the largest ever in
ing in 2001, discussions focus mainly on photonic crystals, but recentterms of the number of presentations, with a total of 4,663 lectures
ly there has been an increasing number of presentations relating to(4,072 contributed papers and 591 invited talks given at symposiums
plasmons in metals as well as near-field and black body radiation conand topical sessions). The number of registered participants also fartrol, with an accompanying increase in both the quality and quantity
exceeded expectations at 9,117 (the fourth largest turnout at a JSAPof results derived from waveguide, resonator, and laser applications.
Meeting), further contributing to the great success of the event.
The number of presentations on “Laser Processing” has gradually inFigure 1 shows the movement in the scale of JSAP’s Spring andcreased in recent years as well. The increase in research activities inFall Meetings since 1970. JSAP Meetings grew rapidly in the 1980s,
this field was particularly apparent at this year’s Meeting, where preand the number of papers increased from 3,000 to 8,000 per year.
sentations on femtosecond laser processing alone accounted for 29
This is a reflection of the brisk pace of R&D activities in semiconof the total.
ductor-related fields (silicon, compound semiconductors, and crysIn the past, research presentations on carbon nanotubes (CNT) at
tal engineering) conducted through universities and in the industrial
JSAP Meetings had been divided into five main classifications, eachworld. In the 90s, the number of papers reacheda saturation point and then began to fall off, as
though to match the maturation of this field. As����clearly shown in Figure 1, however, the num1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
ber of presentations at the JSAP Meetings began
5040���������������
to increase once again after 2000. This is clear����������������������
30
evidence of the beginnings of fetal movement���������������20��������������������������
in new research fields in the context of Applied
100Physics.
-10
Papers for this Meeting were collected in 15-20
1000
10000
separate fields referred to as “Main Classifications.” Figure 2 shows the breakdown for these����������������������������������
fields in a comparison with Fall and Spring Meet8000
800
�������������������������������
ings held ten years ago. We also conducted a���������������������������������
more detailed statistical analysis for each of the6000
600
individual fields in which papers were accepted;
Table 1 is a summary of the fields characterized
by the most significant increases in the number
4000
400of papers submitted over the last three years. As
these results clearly indicate, among the various
2000
200
research activities covered by JSAP, the fields ofOrganic Molecular Electronics and Bioelectronics
have demonstrated exceptionally rapid growth.
00In response to the increased activity in research
19701975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
and development with a view toward organic elec����troluminescence (EL) in addition to electronic deFig. 1: Rate of change in number of lectures, number of symposiums and other invited lectures (calculated atvice applications, e.g., field effect transistors (FETs),
15 minutes per lecture), and number of lectures with number of participants at JSAP Meetings. The numberof lectures per year is calculated as the number from the Fall Meeting of the previous year (e.g., 2003 Springa new session with a focus on “Organic Devices”
Meeting is combined with the 2002 Fall Meeting for the 2002 total) because the deadline for applications for
the Spring Meeting is at the beginning of January. The rapid growth in the 1980s is mainly due to an increase
was established. This new session was so well rein the number of papers from the semiconductor field. The number of papers reached a saturation point inceived at all of the venues that participants were
the 90s and then began to show a diminishing trend, but began to increase once again after 2000.
* Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University

JSAP International No.8 (July 2003)27

Conference Reportwith a different perspective; for example, production processes, applications as electron sources or nanoprobes, or electronics applications.
Starting from the Spring 2003 Meeting, however, we established ajoint session on “Carbon Nanotubes: Foundations and Applications,”
which cuts across several classifications. The goal of establishing thisnew session was to take advantage of JSAP’s unique ability to covera broad range of fields, from growth technologies and fundamental
materials to various types of device applications, and by doing so topromote interaction among researchers and to add even greater im-petus to research in these fields. The number of presentations far exceeded expectations, with a total of 89 presentations (two by invitedspeakers). Related sessions were set up throughout the full four daysof the Meeting; “Standing Room Only” status on each day gave aclear indication of the degree of interest in this field. In terms of thenumber of presentations, this was Japan’s largest academic conference related to carbon nanotubes, a situation which has led to expectations that JSAP will play a central role in CNT research in the true
sense of the term.

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Total for semic����� ��� �����������������������������������������������������������

ond���t�uc�������������� ��������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

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Fig. 2: Changes in the breakdown of the number of presentations in Main Classifications at JSAP Meetings over the past ten years.
As in Fig. 1, analysis of the number of lectures for a single year refers to a given Fall Meeting and the Spring Meeting in the following year. Looking from a mid-term perspective, we can see growth in the fields of “Organic Molecular Electronics and Bioelectronics,”“Quantum Electronics,” and “Applied Materials,” but a relative drop-off in semiconductor-related fields.

Table 1: Secondary Classifications demonstrating significant short-term increases (Classifications with 50 or more presentations at the 2003 Spring Meeting)

Average rateof increaseover past 3 yrs.

Main Classification

Secondary Classification

Organic

Molecular Electronics (51)44.5%

Organic

Organic Devices (71)36.7%

Quantum Electronics

Photonic Nano-Structures and Relating Phenomena (82)36.5%

Applied Materials

Thermoelectric Energy Conversion (53)33.0%

Semiconductors (Si)

Gate Insulator Technology (133)32.3%

Quantum ElectronicsUltrafast Lasers and High Field Lasers (53)31.3%

Quantum Electronics

Laser Processing (71)25.7%

Beam Applications

Lithography (70)24.2%

Optics

Optical Instrumentation and Measurement (53)20.6%

Optoelectronics

Optical Control (111)17.5%(Numbers in brackets indicate number of lectures at the 2003 Spring Meeting)28

JSAP International No.8 (July 2003)